Akali's dance is a direct reference to Beyoncé's Single Ladies. A side-by-side comparison can be seen here.

Quotes

Her joke is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the criticism towards the matchmaking system, often matching up teams of wildly varying levels, causing lower-leveled players to be swiftly defeated by higher-level ones.

Skins

The Stinger Akali skin resembles the main character from Quentin Tarantino's movie, Kill Bill, hence her blood spattered yellow clothing and weapons.

The Stinger Akali skin is also likely a reference to Scorpion from the aformentioned Mortal Kombat series, as her costume and color scheme are similar, as well as the fact that scorpions have stingers.

The Crimson Akali skin resembles Taki from the Soul Calibur series.

The All-Star Akali skin, along with the soccer skins for other champions, appeared just before the 2010 World Cup started, and were removed from the store on October 31st, 2010.

Summoners!This past March 11 marked one of the greatest natural disasters in recorded history. In an effort to support those affected by the devastation, we invited all League of Legends players to donate to the American Red Cross by purchasing the Nurse Akali skin or the champion Akali with RP. The promotion ran for all of this past week, during which time 100% of all proceeds from this champion and skin were collected for the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund. In the end, over 50,000 summoners chose to participate.We invited our partners from the Red Cross down to the Riot Games office to accept your donations, which totaled over $160,000! We have witnessed the power in the community in the past, but you never cease to amaze us. Riot Games and the American Red Cross would like to thank you for your generosity, and for stepping in to contribute to the relief efforts in the wake of this global tragedy.